On defense, Trump says 'I cherish women'

1of 2Colby Delaney of Kennesaw, Ga., wears his homemade Donald Trump shirt to the RedState Gathering tailgate party at the College Football Hall of Fame on Saturday﻿.Photo: Ben Gray, MBI

2of 2In this Thursday, Aug. 6, 2015 photo, republican presidential candidate Donald Trump participates in the first Republican presidential debate at the Quicken Loans Arena, in Cleveland. Angry over what he considered unfair treatment at the debate, Trump told CNN on Friday night that Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." (AP Photo/John Minchillo)Photo: John Minchillo, STF

Donald Trump said that he values women and that only a "deviant" would believe that he was referring to menstruation when he said that Fox News host Megyn Kelly had "blood coming out of her wherever" when she questioned him during Thursday's Republican presidential primary debate.

Trump, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," sought to repair the damage wrought by his comment. The billionaire was disinvited this week from the RedState Gathering, an influential conservative event, amid a backlash that has raised questions about the future of his candidacy.

"When you're negative on women's health, you can forget about it," he said. "I'm the exact opposite. I cherish women. I want to help women. I'm going to be able to do things for women that no other candidate would be able to do, and it's very important to me."

Trump appeared on four Sunday shows to explain his statement, a sign of the wide interest generated by the controversy. In multiple instances, he declined to apologize to Kelly, arguing that he never meant to suggest that she had her menstrual period when she asked him pointed questions at the debate.

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Pageant won't air on Reelz network again

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Stan E. Hubbard, the CEO of Reelz, says the network is "darn proud" of airing the Miss USA Pageant but it was likely a one-time thing.

Reelz agreed to air the event after NBC and Univision dropped out because of pageant co-owner Donald Trump's remarks about immigrants as he launched his presidential campaign.

"They belong on a broadcast network," Hubbard told journalists Sunday. "I do believe that there probably has to be an ownership change in the organization. For my two cents I don't see Trump going away easily for NBC. ... I don't have a dog in the fight. Our agreement for the organization and the pageant was for one event," he said.

Nielsen company said fewer than 1 million people watched, down from 5.6 million viewers on NBC in 2014.

The CEO reiterated that the reason Reelz decided to pick up the Miss USA Pageant was for the women competing, the city of Baton Rouge which had "rolled out the red carpet" for the event and its long-time fans.

Hubbard stressed they were not trying to help Trump whose comments he described as "terrible" and "ridiculous."

Hubbard wouldn't, however, air reruns of "The Cosby Show" on Reelz. "From everything I know and read, that's not something I'm going to be supportive of."

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"I didn't even finish the thought," he said of his comment. "I was going to say nose and/or ears because that's a very common statement ... it's a statement showing anger."

"Only a deviant would say that what I said was what they were referring to. You almost have to be sick to put that together," he added.

'I'm so good looking'

Trump, who told NBC's "Meet the Press" that it is hard for women to attack his looks "because I'm so good-looking," took pains to express respect for women. He criticized fellow GOP presidential contender Jeb Bush for saying earlier in the week that he was "not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues."

"I think he's got a huge problem," Trump told CBS's "Face the Nation." "Look, I am going to be very much up on the whole issue of women's health. I mean, it's very important. To me, it's vital. And when I heard him say that, I thought it was terrible."

During an interview with ABC's "This Week," Trump called women "phenomenal."

"I've had such an amazing relationship with women in business," he said. "They are amazing executives. They are killers. ... I have many executives that are women. They are doing a phenomenal job. I pay them a tremendous amount of money. They make money for me."

Fiorina criticizes Trump

GOP presidential hopeful Carly Fiorina criticized Trump, telling CBS that women were "really sort of horrified" by his statement and that she had had to contend with similar insinuations during her time in the private sector.

"They were completely inappropriate and offensive comments, period," she said Sunday on CNN.

"As I made my way up in the business world, I've had a lot of men imply that I was unfit for decision-making because maybe I was having my period. ... Women understood that comment, and, yes, it is offensive," she said.

Trump's GOP rivals roundly criticized his comments on Sunday, with Sen. Rand Paul, Ky., calling them "vulgar" and Ben Carson pushing back on Trump's argument that he is simply refusing to be politically correct.

"In no way do I advocate, you know, saying mean things about people. That has nothing to do with political correctness," Carson said during an interview with CBS.